Recently, Lao Feng Xiang Co.,Ltd. (SH600612, stock price 50.28 yuan, market cap 26.302 billion yuan) announced its plan to invest $24 million USD (approximately 170 million yuan) to acquire a stake in Maybach Luxury Asia Pacific Company (hereinafter referred to as Maybach Luxury), along with securing distribution rights for the Asia-Pacific region. This series of moves has become a hot topic in the gold and luxury goods sectors, drawing widespread attention.
This cross-industry alliance between gold jewelry and ultra-luxury automotive derivative luxury goods is viewed as a milestone for gold brands' high-end breakthrough, but it has also sparked controversy about whether the "gold attributes" are being diluted. Is this collaboration driven by Lao Feng Xiang Co.,Ltd.'s interest in Maybach Luxury's brand value, or does Maybach Luxury want to leverage Lao Feng Xiang Co.,Ltd.'s resources to expand its market? Senior industry professionals in the gold jewelry sector point out that the collaboration represents mutual needs, but cultural and conceptual differences pose hidden risks.
Currently, high gold prices are suppressing market demand for gold jewelry consumption, coupled with increasingly homogenized products and rapid iteration, causing multiple companies including Lao Feng Xiang Co.,Ltd. and Chow Tai Seng to face profitability challenges. Meanwhile, Lao Pu Gold (HK06181, stock price 702.00 HKD, market cap 121.2 billion HKD), which has broken through via "high-end" positioning, not only achieved strong counter-trend performance growth but recently attracted LVMH Group CEO Bernard Arnault to visit its stores, demonstrating the appeal of Chinese gold brands to top luxury players.
"The industry has entered a critical period for high-end development, which is also the best 'high-end breakthrough period' for many gold jewelry brands," said Zhou Ting, a luxury industry expert. Cross-industry collaboration can help Lao Feng Xiang Co.,Ltd. quickly learn luxury goods operational logic, but it also carries concerns about potential collapse of Maybach Luxury's brand value.
So how far are Chinese gold brands from truly entering the luxury goods camp? Is Lao Feng Xiang Co.,Ltd.'s move a crucial leap or a risky gamble?
Lao Feng Xiang Co.,Ltd.'s "Dual-Track" Entry into Luxury Goods
On the evening of October 9, Lao Feng Xiang Co.,Ltd. announced that the company plans to invest and subscribe for 2,000 voting ordinary shares issued by Maybach Luxury Asia Pacific Limited (MAP) through its controlling subsidiary Lao Feng Xiang Hong Kong Limited (LFXHK), representing 20% of MAP's equity after issuance and allotment, with a total investment of $24 million USD.
Public information shows that Maybach is a globally renowned luxury automotive brand established in Germany in 1909. According to reports, as the brand continued to expand, Maybach established a luxury goods company in 2013, focusing on handcrafted high-end accessories and lifestyle products. Over the past four years, Maybach Luxury's business territory has covered 75 countries and regions globally, building a network of 617 retail stores and sales channels, while owning 15 boutique flagship stores, with plans to launch 6 Asian high-end boutiques, 1 North American boutique, and 1 European boutique by 2026.
MAP, which is collaborating with Lao Feng Xiang Co.,Ltd., was registered and established in Hong Kong in February 2025 with a registered capital of 10,000 HKD. Its business scope does not involve Maybach automobiles, focusing solely on Maybach luxury goods business, including categories such as equestrian goods, apparel, sporting goods, home goods, stationery, silverware, perfumes, and pet products.
Lao Feng Xiang Co.,Ltd. stated that this collaboration aims to develop international markets, enhance comprehensive corporate strength, form a dual-circulation development strategy layout between domestic and overseas markets, while further enhancing the "Lao Feng Xiang" brand image and value, enriching the company's product content and hierarchy, and accelerating the development of mid-to-high-end consumer markets.
Additionally, MAP signed a "Brand Agency Agreement" with Shanghai Lao Feng Xiang Premium Trading Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Premium Trading), an affiliated company of LFXHK, reaching strategic cooperation in brand agency business. The agreement is effective from the signing date until December 31, 2031, automatically renewable until 2034, with possible extension through further negotiation. Premium Trading obtained distribution rights for Maybach luxury goods in the Asia-Pacific region, with Shanghai as an exclusive agency area and other Asia-Pacific regions as non-exclusive.
Regarding procurement volume, Lao Feng Xiang Co.,Ltd. will purchase goods from MAP worth no less than $1 million USD during the 2025 transition period, no less than $2 million USD every six months in 2026, no less than $2 million USD quarterly from 2027, totaling no less than $13 million USD over three years from 2025-2027, all through buyout purchases.
Regarding these transactions, Zhou Ting explained that the "equity investment + brand agency" model allows Lao Feng Xiang Co.,Ltd. to quickly enter the luxury goods sector. "Equity investment not only allows Lao Feng Xiang Co.,Ltd. to share in Maybach Luxury's future development space but also helps establish a more stable brand agency relationship, enhances market expectations and confidence in Lao Feng Xiang Co.,Ltd.'s high-end brand development, and enables the Lao Feng Xiang Co.,Ltd. team to learn and adopt luxury brand operational systems, promoting brand development."
In Zhou Ting's view, Lao Feng Xiang Co.,Ltd.'s investment in Maybach Luxury Asia Pacific appears on the surface to be driven by the brand value of Maybach Luxury, but in reality, it's Maybach Luxury leveraging Lao Feng Xiang Co.,Ltd.'s resources. "Lao Feng Xiang Co.,Ltd.'s capital, supply chain, and customer resources are all important factors determining Maybach Luxury's future development in Asia-Pacific. It could even be said that Lao Feng Xiang Co.,Ltd. determines Maybach Luxury Asia Pacific's future, and Maybach Luxury Asia Pacific's future determines the future of the Maybach Luxury brand."
Senior gold jewelry industry professional Xu Hui (pseudonym) points out that the collaboration represents mutual needs - Maybach Luxury wants to expand the Chinese market while Lao Feng Xiang Co.,Ltd. seeks high-end breakthrough, but warns of risks from differences in cultural concepts and business approaches.
On October 11, regarding the above collaboration, attempts to contact Lao Feng Xiang Co.,Ltd.'s investor relations office were unsuccessful as they declined interviews.
Gold Jewelry Industry Faces Profit Pressure
This cross-industry alliance between gold jewelry and ultra-luxury automotive derivative luxury goods, while viewed by the industry as a milestone for gold brands' high-end breakthrough, has also sparked controversy about whether "gold attributes" are being diluted due to differences in the two parties' DNA.
"Lao Feng Xiang Co.,Ltd. is one of China's most well-known gold jewelry brands, with its gold specialization positioning deeply rooted in consumers' minds. This collaboration will not dilute its gold attributes but will instead create market expectations for innovative gold products after the collaboration," Zhou Ting explained. Maybach brand represents the pinnacle of luxury in the automotive sector, "on the same level as Rolls-Royce and Bentley, which positions Maybach luxury goods at a relatively high level in the global luxury goods industry."
However, Zhou Ting believes that brand luxury status is determined by many factors. "Customers, products, pricing, channels, and communication all influence a luxury brand's positioning, so the final market position of Maybach Luxury in consumers' minds will depend on subsequent brand operations and management."
"The biggest risk in licensing-based valuations lies in the collapse of the brand's inherent value," Zhou Ting further explained. Maybach Luxury's brand value stems from the Maybach automotive brand value, so if Maybach were to launch economy cars priced at hundreds of thousands of yuan, it would rapidly diminish the Maybach brand value.
Xu Hui observes that industry capital alliances typically encounter problems such as different cultural concepts, design philosophies, business approaches, and management teams having different judgments about domestic and international markets. "Successful cases of such disparate alliances are rare. For success, there's only one approach: one party must have absolute controlling stake and dominance to truly utilize the other party's advantages."
Currently, the gold jewelry sector faces rapid iteration and increasingly homogenized products, combined with continuously rising gold prices that suppress consumer demand, causing widespread industry profit pressure.
Lao Feng Xiang Co.,Ltd.'s 2025 interim report shows that during the reporting period, company revenue declined 16.52% year-over-year to 33.356 billion yuan; net profit attributable to listed company shareholders decreased 13.07% year-over-year to 1.22 billion yuan. Industry competitor Chow Tai Seng also experienced declines in revenue and net profit.
Lao Pu Gold, which pioneered the "high-end" breakthrough, achieved 251% year-over-year revenue growth to 12.354 billion yuan in the first half of this year; net profit surged 285.8% year-over-year to 2.268 billion yuan, seemingly pointing the industry toward a new direction. Recently, LVMH Group CEO Bernard Arnault visited Shanghai Lao Pu Gold stores, indicating that Chinese gold brands have attracted international luxury attention.
"Now, many gold brands seeing Lao Pu Gold's high-end success want to go high-end too. So everyone is moving in this direction, some through cross-sector marketing, others like Lao Feng Xiang Co.,Ltd. through direct capital collaboration," Xu Hui noted.
Zhou Ting explained that China's gold jewelry industry has entered a critical period for high-end development, "which is also the best 'high-end breakthrough period' for many gold jewelry brands." Among various companies, Lao Feng Xiang Co.,Ltd. (established 1848) was founded almost simultaneously with Cartier (established 1847). In the current rise of domestic brand consumption, brands with deep historical heritage and cultural legacy are more likely to gain recognition and trust from Chinese consumers than those relying purely on marketing hype.
"In the future, the combination of gold and luxury brands will bring enormous opportunities to both the gold jewelry industry and luxury goods industry," Zhou Ting believes.
The VIP Research Institute predicts that over the next two years, more than 50% of luxury brands will launch pure gold jewelry products to directly compete with Chinese gold jewelry brands in this market, while over 80% of China's leading gold jewelry brands will achieve collaborative partnerships with international luxury brands. The combination of gold and luxury goods will be the biggest growth driver for the global jewelry industry in the coming years.
"Lao Feng Xiang Co.,Ltd. and Maybach Luxury will inevitably launch collaborative products, which is one of the important appeals for the two brands' cooperation," Zhou Ting stated directly. Gold jewelry is a product category with inherent high-end attributes, meaning gold jewelry brands are most likely to achieve high-end development and have the best opportunity to develop into high-end or luxury brands.
So when will Chinese gold jewelry brands truly enter the luxury goods camp?
Zhou Ting analyzes that the core reason Chinese gold jewelry lacks its own luxury brands is insufficient professionalism in brand operations. "Lao Feng Xiang Co.,Ltd. faces the same pressure. Despite having deep historical heritage, century-old craftsmanship legacy, and high-end customer base, it still needs to learn from international luxury brand operations and management experience while combining its own advantages."
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